Thousands of Hanford workers told to stay home for 4th week because of coronavirus

RICHLAND – Hanford nuclear reservation workers were told Thursday that most of them should stay home for a fourth week because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

But contractors are making plans for how the eventual ramp-up of work will be done.

About 10% to 15% of the site’s 11,000 workers have continued to report to the nuclear reservation to do work that is essential to protect the public, workers and the environment.

About 60% of Hanford workers are teleworking to support on-site activities.

The economic stimulus bill approved by Congress and signed into law by President Trump allowed the Department of Energy to revise the contracts of companies that do most of the work at Hanford to continue to pay their workers and most of their subcontractor workers with federal funds.

“On a weekly basis, we will continue to evaluate the multiple factors under consideration that will lead to a decision to begin a phased, structured and methodical process toward the resumption of site operations,” said Brian Vance, DOE manager for Hanford.